Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Below are the questions I answered today on Catholic Answers Live. The topic of the show was Open Line Q & A for Non-Catholics. It was a delightful time.

Click HERE on-line listening and HERE for the podcast and for more information.

Questions I Anwered:

1) I am a Baptist coming into the Catholic Church. What can I do to deepen my faith as I enter the Church?2) A Protestant wanted to know what to do if he was interested in learning more about the Mass but his Evangelical wife was not interested.3) My parents are Catholic, I am baptist. I am very confused. My heart says Catholic but I don’t know what to believe?4) A Non-denominational woman asks why abusive priests are not stripped of their priesthood.5) A Baptist has decided to become Catholic but wants to know how to tell her father-in-law who is a Baptist minister.6) A Non-denominational asks why the Catholic churches are so ornate. Jesus was simple and would not have liked all the gold and ornate churches since he just preached on a hillside.7) What about the eclipse of the sun at the crucifixion of Christ?

(The first embrace of Pope Francis and Emeritus Pope Benedict, shortly after noon today in the Vatican Gardens at Castel Gandolfo, about 20 miles outside of Rome. Pope Francis had just arrived by helicopter from the Vatican. Emeritus Pope Benedict, wearing a light jacket against the cold, came out of the Palace to greet him upon his arrival)

(The two men, before their private conversation, pray side by side in the chapel inside the Palace at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Popes, and, since February 28, the date he stepped down from the papacy, the residence of Emeritus Pope Benedict)

“May I suggest that discussion of this matter begin with what canon and liturgical law actually say (and don’t say) about the Mandatum rite, and that serious attention be given, if not this year then next, to eliminating this ill-conceived and merely optional rite from parish liturgies altogether and instead making it a powerful part of the bishop’s Chrism Mass?”

What do you think?

Zenit.org News writes about Pope Francis’ plans for Holy Thursday. Do you think he will wash the feet of male and female?

“The Holy Father will celebrate the Mass in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo Penitential Institute for Minors (IPM)…

“Of the 10 girls and 40 boys expected to the attend, the Holy Father will wash the feet of 12, who will be chosen from different nationalities and diverse religious confessions. The youth will will also participate in the mass by proclaiming the readings and the prayer of the faithful.”